In general, a laundry machine includes a washing machine for washing laundries and a dryer for drying laundries. Also, a washing machine with a drying function is under development. The washing machine is classified into a pulsator type, a drum type and an agitator type washing machine. The drum type washing machine has a drum horizontally mounted thereon, and washes laundry using.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a drum type washing machine will be described as an embodiment of a conventional laundry machine.
The drum type washing machine includes a body 10, a tub 20 mounted within the body 10, a drum 30 rotatably mounted within the tub 20, a driving unit for driving the drum 30.
An opening 11 is formed in front of the body 10 for loading/unloading the laundry, and a door 40 is coupled to the opening 11 for opening/closing the opening 11.
A rim part 50 is provided at the inner circumference of the opening 11 for making airtight between the door 40 and the opening 11. The tub 20 is supported within the body 10 by a damper 21. A heater 60 is further provided within the tub 20 for heating wash water.
The driving unit includes a motor 71 to drive the drum 30, a belt 72 to transmit the driving force of motor 71 to the drum 30. Alternatively, the driving unit may employ a motor directly connected to the drum 30.
However, the conventional laundry machine may have several problems as follows.
First, the conventional laundry machine has a problem of large energy consumption, because unnecessarily much wash water is used in case of washing a small amount of the laundry and the laundry with light soil. Moreover, almost the washing time taken to wash the small amount of laundry and the laundry with light soil is almost the same as the washing time to wash the laundry with normal soil.
Second, washing performance may be more efficient when a soaking cycle is performed before washing. However, the soaking cycle has a problem of too much consumption of washing water. Thereby, a soaking cycle may be not operated often.
Third, in a conventional washing process, there is no additional cycle for sterilizing the laundry. Recently, a laundry machine having a sanitary function has been released, which can sterilize the laundry by using another heater for heating wash water. However, the sanitary function is not preferred, because wash water as well as energy is used for sterilizing the laundry too much.
Finally, a conventional dryer and a washing machine with a drying function may cause wrinkles on the dried laundry. Thus, there is inconvenience that the dried laundry should be ironed for smoothing out its wrinkles.